REVERB15 (Day 16) Embodying the MAGIC OF BEING through creativity

ALCHEMY OF BEING. This image is my language. I speak HALLELUJAH. These figures are symbols that I dance, draw, and tell stories with. Do you speak HALLELUJAH? Do you speak your own private language? (Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Hallelujah for the MYSTERY and bowing before it! Launching a snake boat into the unknown and sailing off into the UNKNOWN. Hallelujah for faith and spirit to journey into one's life. This is my practice. This is my life. This is creative magic. I am a Spiritual Art Pilgrim--transforming before my eyes and your eyes too! Today's REVERB15 prompt about the magic we carry in our lives resonates with my Hallelujah-ness! How about you?

REVERB15 (Day 16) Prompt: "Ancient alchemical texts are things of beauty – filled with allegory and symbolic language; things hidden in plain sight; and plain things promising transformation.  If we were to peek into the book of your year, what might we find?  What magic do you carry that people need to look a bit deeply to see?" --Deborah Weber

I am the ancient alchemical text telling my STORY in the "Cosmos of Hallelujah," through image, dance, and story. As a visual artist, I have BIBO-ed (breathed in and breathed out) the improvisational system of InterPlay, EMBODYING the MAGIC OF BEING in 2015. I speak the language of the HEART and a COURAGEOUS WAY OF BEING. 

GUIDE TO THE COSMOS OF HALLELUJAH.  We are all PILGRIMS embarked on such an amazing journey. What text has your SOUL asked you to write? Mine spoke to me and gave me this cosmos. These figures are the stars of my soul.(Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Transform. Create. Be. Live. Magic make. Dance. Draw. Paint. Write. Friend. Love. Forgive. Heal. LIVING IS MAGICAL! Creating is Alchemical!

As 2015 withers naturally to a close and 2016 blossoms, I plan on learning another language. I have been speaking HALLELUJAH for about six years now and I am interested in learning how to translate my HALLELUJAH language into another language that others might be more interested in or able to comprehend more joyfully. 

HERE I AM! Do you see me? If you do, I count your perception of me as MAGIC! Now, let's dance! Let's share our stories in a language we both understand! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

As HALLELUJAH, I have cultivated an internal/eternal strength. Shedding shyness, I crave discussion, collaboration, and community, during which I see you and you see me. What new language might this be?

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and give me suggestions for a way to communicate HALLELUJAH. What is the language of your HEART?

FLOWER POWER MOUTH. I speak Hallelujah and my language is exuberant with lots of dashes of flowers, snakes, polka dots, and Wandjinas. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thank you Kat McNally for hosting REVERB15 and engaging such wonderful prompt writers as Deborah Weber. I'm eternally grateful to Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter, co-founders of InterPlay for this deep and life informing improvisational system. Here in Atlanta, there is Jennifer Denning, the co-founder of InterPlay Atlanta, who has provided a strong foundation for our community to find the MAGIC IN PLAY. Her organization and structure allowed me to achieve certification as an InterPlay leader in 2105, in a relatively short period time (2 years). Great appreciation to Christine Gautreaux for her idea of Manifesting Mondays and suggestion that I find people to manifest with by posting on Facebook! Karen Phillips, Carolyn Renee, and Matt Blodgett--my Monday Manifesters (Coffee with Hallelujah) have supported my spirit and motivated me to action. So much of the MAGIC of my life are the PEOPLE. Acknowledgments must always including the BIG LOVE I receive from my husband and boon companion Chiboogamoo and dear dear friend and creativity coach, Lesly Fredman. Finally, I'm so grateful to the redeeming love of my mother and sister that has nourished me deeply this year.

REVERB13 ( DAY#13): Engaging in the alchemy of community begins with you, the individual self!

I MAY BE A PILGRIM BUT I NEED MY COMMUNITY! (Art by Hallelujah Truth from the 9/13 blog post: Sojourning doesn't mean solitude: We need each other on this creative journey.)

Hallelujah for community! We are not alone! Hallelujah for alchemical relationships, for those individuals and community bodies that transport us to fulfilled states of being!

CREATING SELF WITHIN A COMMUNITY. Where do we belong? What is our community? Doesn't it all begin with knowing who we are? What if you had to re-create yourself in another culture? How would you depict yourself? What traces from your past would you "mark" yourself? What new "marks" would you invent? Here a Bhutanese Senior (a refugee) at the CCC re-imagined herself with the existing materials for our Paperdoll Project. (from the Paperdoll Project I did with Seniors at the Clarkston Community Center (CCC), Georgia, 2010)

Today's prompt for Kat McNally's REVERB13 (DAY #13) prompt is this:

In 2014, how could you explore what community means to you? Where might the alchemy be?

WHERE MIGHT THE ALCHEMY BE? Where in ourselves do we find the elements that transform us and then our community? Or is it the other way around? Perhaps it is a reciprocal alchemy--flowing back-and-forth between the individual and community like ocean waves moving to and from the shore?  (from the Paperdoll Project, Clarkston Community Center, Georgia)

In 2014, I will definitely continue SEEKING COMMUNITY and am delighted to envision the ALCHEMICAL changes it will inevitably bring to me, the INDIVIDUAL, and then give back to my TRIBE!

"The group is within us," Cynthia Winton-Henry writes in her book, What the Body Wants. "The health of the tribe or group is a primal concern. Designed as communal creatures, we huddle, cluster, eat, sleep, and create together. We are one with the group, even when the group is broken or unsatisfying."

Yes! I agree with Cynthia! WE ARE ONE WITH THE GROUP. How can we insure that that ONENESS is ALCHEMICAL, not broken or unsatisfying? Each one of us must thrive individually for the group to thrive! Cynthia writes: 

"The more we can claim our individual physical style, energy, and truth, the more fullness and fun the group can have. Kinesthetic presence affects the whole. Consider your family. Each family member's body communicates deeper than words. A good parent knows that his or her greatest legacy is in actions that move directly to their children. Love, joy, beauty, and life leap directly from body to body.

The group body wants play, creative challenge, rest and communion. The body does not want to suffer."

I am particularly fond of thinking about my own KINESTHETIC presence, and how it impacts and is impacted by the COMMUNITY BODY. The ALCHEMY I am seeking in 2014 is joyful, playful physical well-being--ALONE and with my TRIBE! 

Below are communities I imagine being ALCHEMICAL with:

COMMUNITIES I WILL CONTINUE IN 2014
The Dancing Flowers for Peace (creative movement for women over 40)
The InterPlay community (living one's own body wisdom)
Decatur Dance Church (creative movement)
C4 Atlanta (business support for the Arts)
Five Rhythms (dancing life's waves)
Lesly Fredman's Improv classes (practice saying yes)

COMMUNITIES I MAY RETURN TO IN 2014
The Artist Conference Network (coaching network for artists)
The Clarkston Community Center, Clarkston, Georgia (fun projects)
The Language Institute at Georgia Tech (workshops, short courses)

BEING WITH COMMUNITY. I am excited about the possibility of returning to the Clarkston Community Center in 2014 to work and play with so many elements I love: art, internationals, growth, and communication. (from the Paperdoll Project,Clarkston Community Center, Georgia, 2010)

COMMUNITIES IN CONSTRUCTION (calling forth the alchemy in 2014)
A Year to Live Discussion Group (discerning what matters)

Hallelujah Truth Creativity Coaching Business (holding the space for others to make important changes in their lives)

Brain Health and Creativity Book Club (discussing books that direct our actions)

Environmental Stewardship Arts Projects (merging art and science to cultivate connection with nature)

Blogging About the Arts (blogging for a month on arts-related topics in conjunction with C4)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what alchemy in the community is brewing for you!

BEING PART OF THE COMMUNITY BODY. Here I am with Seniors from a session I did with them on making "wholeness circles" or mandalas. Each time I spent with this community, I was enlivened and filled with joy. (from the Making Mandala Art Class, Clarkston Community Center, Georgia, 2010)